Hot News: December 21, 2016

By Climate Nexus

State Dept Under Transition Team Scrutiny? Trump’s transition team asked the State Department last week to disclose how much money it spends to support international environmental groups, the Washington Post reported Monday. The Post’s report comes less than two weeks after initial news broke of a probing questionnaire sent by the transition team to the Department of Energy seemingly targeting climate change policymakers and programs, and Trump vowed on the campaign trail to “cancel billions of dollars in global warming payments to the United Nations.” Other officials at State pushed back on the Post’s report to CNN, saying the questions were part of a routine inquiry into budget and structure. (Washington Post $, CNN, Grist, Huffington Post. Commentary: ThinkProgress, Sam Page analysis)

Obama (And Trudeau) Takes Drilling Off the Table: President Obama announced yesterday a “permanent” ban on offshore drilling in parts of the Arctic and Northeast Atlantic. In a tandem move, Canadian PM Justin Trudeau also announced he would put a moratorium on drilling in parts of his country’s Arctic waters. Obama’s move has already provoked aggressive criticism from fossil fuel supporters, but the administration’s use of the 1953 Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act to prop up the decision means that opponents will almost certainly have to resolve the issue in federal court. (New York Times $, Washington Post $, WSJ $, AP, Reuters, Politico, Bloomberg, Time, The Hill, The Guardian, NPR, Vox, LA Times $, Mashable, Southeast Energy News)

Clean Energy All Over the Midwest: Three Midwestern states are closing out the year with big clean energy changes on the horizon. Both Illinois and Michigan passed major clean energy bills in the last hours of their lame duck sessions, encouraged by the state’s Republican governors. And while Ohio’s legislature extended a freeze on the state’s renewables standards, earlier comments from Gov. Kasich indicate he may veto the bill. In Minnesota, while a Republican legislature could curtail progress on the state’s emissions reductions plans, some policymakers have hinted that clean energy policies could be ground for bipartisan compromise. (MI, OH, IL: Midwest Energy News. MN: Midwest Energy News, MPR News. Commentary: Crain’s Chicago Business, Will Kenworthy op-ed.)

Today’s Forecast May Make You Believe In Climate Change: Had a super sweaty summer? You’re more likely to believe in climate change than your colder friends and family in other parts of the country, according to a study published Monday in the journal PNAS. The study finds that US attitudes towards climate change are influenced by local weather, with Americans living in places with recent record high temperatures more likely to believe in climate change, while people living in areas with record low temperatures showed more skepticism. The study’s authors suggest that the public’s mistaken equation of weather with climate, as well as the idea that “global warming” simply means warmer temperatures, may be responsible for the results. (ClimateWire $, Sacramento Bee, The Independent)

US News

These two sentences could hint at the next threat to climate science under Trump (Washington Post $)

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Since its founding in 2011, Climate Nexus has drawn upon established and emerging science to personalize and localize the climate and energy story through work with the media, relevant NGOs and other thought leaders.